Swiss researchers discover eight new frog species in Borneo

Even before they could be studied in detail, many of the new species were already endangered, the Bern Natural History Museum said. Keystone-SDA

Scientists from the Swiss capital Bern, together with an international research team, have discovered eight new species of so-called "guardian frogs" on the island of Borneo. This increases the number of these unusual amphibians from two to ten species.

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The frogs are known for their special breeding behaviour, the Natural History Museum in Bern said on Thursday. Males guard the eggs on land and carry the tadpoles on their backs into the water after hatching.

Even before they could be studied in detail, many of the new species were already endangered, the museum said. They usually only live in a limited number of regions or at certain altitudes and could face extinction risks due to deforestation or climate change.

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Until now, it was assumed that there were only two species of these special frogs: the Smooth Guardian Frog (Limnonectes palavanensis) and the rough-skinned Guardian Frog (Limnonectes finchi).

Analysing genes and calls

However, genetic analyses, studies of body characteristics, habitats and frog calls showed that these species conceal several previously unknown species.

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The Smooth Guardian Frog turned out to be a complex of seven previously unknown species that live on Borneo. The rough-skinned Guardian Frog also turned out to be two different species.

The newly discovered frogs have names such as Limnonectes kinabaluensis, named after Mount Kinabalu, or Limnonectes sarawakensis, after the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

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Translated from German with DeepL/gw

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